| The Scenes of Sakyamuni’s Eight Great Events is a new buddhist scripture painting,which became popular with the upsurge of the Song Dynasty and Xia Xia that took the scriptures to India alongside with the translation of the Buddhist scriptures of "Fo Shuo Ba Da Ling Pagoda Name" and "Bada Ling Pagoda Fanzan".The Scenes of Sakyamuni’s Eight Great Eventsare usually represented by the eight pagodas of Sakyamuni from birth to death.They are "born under a tree","the appearance of a thousand buddhas","three steps","monkeys donate honey","the first turn of the Falun",and the "drunk elephant".The eight scenes of Descendant Demon,Enlightenment,and Nirvana represent the eight important life stories of Sakyamuni from birth,monkhood,demise,saying,demise,enlightenment,Zhuan Falun,and Nirvana.In a certain sense,it represents the life of Sakyamuni in the form of eight phases.This Buddhist art style has also become another form of representation of the murals of Buddha’s natal stories since Han Wei,Sui and Tang Dynasties.The Scenes of Sakyamuni’s Eight Great Events first appeared in Cave 76(Song Dynasty)of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang,but this is the only case appearing in the Dunhuang Grottoes during the Song Dynasty.Since then,it appeared in the Buddhist art of Dunhuang grottoes from the Xia to the Yuan Dynasties,and became the new Buddhist art theme in this period.In the Xia to Yuan Dynasties,the manifestations of the Scenes of Sakyamuni’s Eight Great Events mainly include murals,Thangkas,mud buddhas and prints.Cave paintings include Cave 3 in Yulin,Guazhou,Cave 5 in Dongqian Buddha Cave,Cave 5 in the five temples in Subei.Six Thangkas paintings from Heishui City and Thangka and Hongfo Pagoda in Helan County,Ningxia.The Mud Buddhas were unearthed from the ruins of Xixia Buddha Temple in Ningxia,Gansu,Inner Mongolia,etc.Through image analysis,an example of restoration of the fragment of the eight-tower pagoda unearthed from the Hongfo Pagoda in Helan County,Ningxia was restored.Corrected three cases of incorrectly naming Thangka unearthed in Heishui City:"Russian-Tibetan Blackwater City Art" layout board X.2326 "Vajra Buddha and Eight Pagodas",X.2587 "Vajra Buddha and Eight Pagodas",X.2329 "Pagoda" "It should be named" Scenes of Sakyamuni’s Eight Great Events".The Scenes of Sakyamuni’s Eight Great Events from the Xia to the Yuan Dynasty are the inheritance and innovation of the previous generations of Buddhism stories.They present various forms of enshrinement,such as cave paintings,Thangkas,rubs,and prints.It has spread widely among the faith groups,and at the same time,it has also moved out of Dunhuang and Hexi Corridor from the region to the northwest region.Due to the influence of the Song,Liao,Tubo,Uyghur,and Indian Buddhist arts,the Buddhist art of this period produced new characteristics,reflecting the combination of Han Buddhism and Tibetan-Tibetan Buddhism,and the diversified styles of Xianjiao and Tantra features.Exploring the origin,the Scenes of Sakyamuni’s Eight Great Events originated in India.Due to the exchange of Buddhist culture on the Silk Road,it was introduced into Xixia.In addition,it was influenced by the Uighur and Liao dynasty Ba Pagoda.Together,it formed a new Buddhist art in the Ba Xia period style.In fact,in the process of the spread of the Scenes of Sakyamuni’s Eight Great Events,had also an important impact on the Buddhist art of Xia Yuan and later works.The changing image style is gradually integrated into the stone carving stupa art,which had an impact on the funeral method flowing through the region.With the development of Han-Tibetan Buddhist art,the Scenes of Sakyamuni’s Eight Great Events were gradually been integrated into the Twelve Destiny Stories,continuing to express and evolve in the form of "Ruyi Fujimoto’s Picture". |
